How to back up your iPhone before installing iOS 7

Although it's not likely you'll run into trouble with the new OS, better safe than sorry. Here's a quick refresher on backing up your data.

Apple's iOS 7 makes its debut today, and many users are champing at the bit to get their hands on this massively overhauled operating system.

Before you make the jump, however, it's a good idea to make sure you've got a full backup of your iPhone, just in case something goes wrong. That's not likely, given that beta testers have been putting iOS 7 through its paces for months, but better safe than sorry.

Your iPhone gets backed up to one of two places: iTunes on your PC or iCloud in the, er, cloud. Here's how to manually create a backup on whichever one you use.

Back up to iTunes

Step one: Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB sync cable.

Step two: By default, this will launch iTunes and start the sync process, which includes making a backup. However, if your iPhone isn't set to auto-sync, continue on to step three.

Step three: Click the Summary button for your iPhone. Then, in the Backups section, click the Back Up Now button. Depending on how long it's been since your last backup, this might take 30 seconds or several minutes. Either way, that's it, you're done.

Back up to iCloud

Step one: Make sure your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Step two: Tap the Settings icon, then tap iCloud.

Step three: Tap Storage & Backup, then Back Up Now. Again, this might happen quickly, or it could take a while.

That's all there is to it! Now you can go forth and install iOS 7, with every confidence that if something gets mucked up along the way, you should be able to restore your iPhone to its previous, working, iOS 6 state.
Of course, you should also check out Jason Cipriani's "Five things to do before installing iOS 7," just to make all your bases are covered.